[Ads-l] facets of the bezel

[Barretts Mail]

The word “bezel” has always puzzled me, so I took a look at it.

1. The second oldest citation in the OED for “bezel” is 1616, meaning "‘The groove and projecting flange or lip by which the crystal of a watch or the stone of a jewel is retained in its setting.’” [set in single quotes in the definition]

Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bezel <https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bezel>) expands this definition (though excluding the groove part of the OED definition), saying: "a rim that holds a transparent covering (as on a watch, clock, or headlight) or that is rotatable and has special markings (as on a watch)”. (Rotatability does not seem integral to the definition to me, but it is a feature of diving watches, at least.)

According to "What Is the Purpose of the Rotating Watch Bezel?” (https://tinyurl.com/y6x73gra <https://tinyurl.com/y6x73gra>), the main purpose of the bezel is to keep the transparent cover (“crystal”) that protects the watch face in place, but it is often decorated and can have, like on diving watches, calculation functions.

Here’s a picture of a cover that goes over a bezel to create a diving watch:
https://tinyurl.com/y56y38c2 <https://tinyurl.com/y56y38c2>

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezel <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezel>) provides additional definitions:

The removable plastic faceplate or front panel of a slot, such as CD drive or DVD player
Screen bezel, a space or frame around a display device, such as on a television or mobile device

Here is a picture of a CD player bezel: 

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32889464439.html <https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32889464439.html>

The screen bezel is what was evidently a “hotly contested” feature (https://tinyurl.com/yxlt2bas <https://tinyurl.com/yxlt2bas>) in the development of the iPhone after Samsung and Google introduced narrow bezels. Earlier models of the iPhone have a white area, probably a half-inch tall, at the top and bottom. That is called a bezel, which also includes the narrow portion to the left and right between the phone frame and the screen.

It seems that all of these meanings can be reduced to simply "a rim” or perhaps “a rim that holds an object in place”. Perhaps the thing encompassed has to be primarily transparent or else has to primarily have a display purpose (the knobs of a CD player would not fit into that requirement). 

2-3. There are also the meanings “a sloping edge” and “the oblique sides of a cut gem” in the OED. 

4. Also, there is another meaning in Wiktionary (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bezel <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bezel>): "The panel that covers the front of a computer case, or the panel covering each drive bay that can be removed to install a removable drive that requires external access, such as a CD/DVD-ROM drive, which usually has its own preinstalled bezel.” A picture of this can be seen at:

https://tinyurl.com/y4gmqwkd <https://tinyurl.com/y4gmqwkd>

Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
Formerly of Seattle, WA
 
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org